iOS build error: "folly/folly-config.h file not found"

[AlexAlexandre]

How were you trying to build the app?

Hey guys, hope find all you well...

So recently I updated my app to React native 0.78 and was able to build the app with nitro "^0.23.0" as well...
the problem is I had to add firebase at my project and this starts the problem... to use firebase I had to update my Podfile to install dependencies like this

# Ensure frameworks are linked statically
use_frameworks! :linkage => :static

# Optional, you can add this if you face issues, but it's usually not necessary:
$RNFirebaseAsStaticFramework = true

my headache started there. I started face some troubles with nitro and update to the new version 0.24.1 which cause the problem related.

I'm using "react-native-nitro-sqlite": "^9.1.4", and to be honest I don't know if the problem is with nitro-sqlite or nitro-modules

If you think this issue should not be open here, and there's no problem with the build. Please disregard this issue. I just wanna check if this is an issue related to the new nitro version, since changed a lot of things with the new RN version. Maybe the BorrowingReference.hpp is moved or removed, IDK... I'll try remove firebase and test again the new version of the library ASAP.
Thanks for the amazing work you guys have done with this lib anyway.

Full build logs

/Users/alexjunior/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData/EmotionDiaryApp-ftysafapmbfggkefqpkdskqkjzjg/Build/Products/Debug-iphonesimulator/NitroModules/NitroModules.framework/Headers/ArrayBuffer.hpp:10:10: error: 'BorrowingReference.hpp' file not found
#include "BorrowingReference.hpp"

/Users/alexjunior/Documents/lex-tec/emotionDiary/EmotionDiaryApp/ios/Pods/RCT-Folly/folly/portability/Config.h:20:10: error: 'folly/folly-config.h' file not found
#include <folly/folly-config.h>

/Users/alexjunior/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData/EmotionDiaryApp-ftysafapmbfggkefqpkdskqkjzjg/Build/Products/Debug-iphonesimulator/RNNitroSQLite/RNNitroSQLite.framework/Headers/BatchQueryCommand.hpp:11:10: error: could not build module 'NitroModules'
#include <NitroModules/JSIConverter.hpp>

<unknown>:0: error: could not build Objective-C module 'RNNitroSQLite'

Project dependencies

{
...
"@react-native-firebase/app": "^21.11.0",
"@react-native-firebase/messaging": "^21.11.0",
"react": "19.0.0",
"react-native": "0.78.0",
"react-native-nitro-modules": "^0.24.1",
"react-native-nitro-sqlite": "^9.1.4",
...
}

Nitro Modules Version

0.24.1

Nitrogen Version

No response

Target platforms

iOS

Operating system

MacOS

Can you build the Nitro Modules Example app?

Yes, I can successfully build the Example app here

Additional information

• I am using Expo
• I am using Nitrogen (nitro-codegen)
• I have read and followed the Troubleshooting Guide.
• I created a reproduction PR to reproduce this issue here in the nitro repo. (See Contributing for more information)
• I searched for similar issues in this repository and found none.

[mrousavy]

cc @chrispader @boorad @renanmav have you seen this before?

[chrispader]

i've actually seen this issue today while working on integrating the latest version of NitroSQLite into a codebase.

Will investigate this in a bit and let you guys know about my findings.

[AlexAlexandre]

I look forward to your discoveries, thanks for the quick response guys

[chrispader]

I can definitely repro this. The NitroSQLite example also fails whenever use_frameworks! is used, both for static and dynamic frameworks.

I'll have to dig deeper into this issue, and i'm not yet sure if we need to change anything in Nitro(gen) itself or not, due to the errors "appearing" in NitroModules and the generated nitrogen files.

Nitro example works just fine with use_frameworks! though.

[AlexAlexandre]

Got it, I'm glad you found the cause of the problem.
Although this change use_frameworks! in the Podfile is a pain in the ass, it is extremely necessary to connect with Firebase :(

I was in doubt between opening the issue here and in the nitro-sqlite repository. Exactly for this reason, the error occurs in nitro-sqlite, but it complains about the files in this lib here.

I saw that you created a PR for this fix, I would like to know if it will be included in the next version. I'm thinking about changing the nitro-sqlite lib and using something like MMKV with json.stringfy... it would be much worse in performance and logic, but a workaround so as not to get stuck for now

[chrispader]

I will definitely include it in the next version once i fixed it. Haven't found the root cause yet, but i've got an idea.

Since this might also affect other Nitro libs, i'm trying to fix this soon, but can't give any guarantees or timeframe

[AlexAlexandre]

awesome, thanks man.

[Ahd-3hd]

I've been debugging this issue for 3 days now. this is how i resolved it:

folly_compiler_flags = '-DFOLLY_NO_CONFIG -DFOLLY_MOBILE=1 -DFOLLY_USE_LIBCPP=1 -Wno-comma -Wno-shorten-64-to-32'

Pod::Spec.new do |s|
    s.name         = "NitroExample"
    s.version      = "0.1.3"
    s.summary      = "A short summary of the pod."
    s.description  = "description"
    s.homepage     = "https://github.com/yourusername/name"
    s.license      = { :type => 'MIT', :file => 'LICENSE' }
    s.authors      = { "Your Name" => "your.email@example.com" }
    s.source       = { :git => "https://github.com/yourusername/name.git" }

    s.compiler_flags = folly_compiler_flags + " -DRCT_NEW_ARCH_ENABLED=1"

    s.pod_target_xcconfig = {
      "HEADER_SEARCH_PATHS" => "\"${PODS_ROOT}/Headers/Private/Yoga\"",
      'DEFINES_MODULE' => 'YES',
      "GCC_PREPROCESSOR_DEFINITIONS" => "$(inherited) FOLLY_NO_CONFIG FOLLY_CFG_NO_COROUTINES",
      "OTHER_CPLUSPLUSFLAGS" => "-DFOLLY_NO_CONFIG -DFOLLY_MOBILE=1 -DFOLLY_USE_LIBCPP=1",
    }



    load 'nitrogen/generated/ios/NitroExample+autolinking.rb'
    add_nitrogen_files(s)

  end

Source

Still going through setting up nitro views. but at least it's compiling now. Works perfectly.

Huge fan of your work mrousavy. Thank you!

[chrispader]

I've been debugging this issue for 3 days now. this is how i resolved it:

folly_compiler_flags = '-DFOLLY_NO_CONFIG -DFOLLY_MOBILE=1 -DFOLLY_USE_LIBCPP=1 -Wno-comma -Wno-shorten-64-to-32'
Source

@Ahd-3hd thanks for your input, i'm just not sure if this fixes the issue with use_frameworks! though. Did you add use_frameworks! (either :static or :dynamic) linkage to your Podfile?

Also, why are you defining an extra PodSpec in your app repo? Is your repo supposed to be a library or app?

[Ahd-3hd]

I've been debugging this issue for 3 days now. this is how i resolved it:
folly_compiler_flags = '-DFOLLY_NO_CONFIG -DFOLLY_MOBILE=1 -DFOLLY_USE_LIBCPP=1 -Wno-comma -Wno-shorten-64-to-32'
Source

@Ahd-3hd thanks for your input, i'm just not sure if this fixes the issue with use_frameworks! though. Did you add use_frameworks! (either :static or :dynamic) linkage to your Podfile?

Also, why are you defining an extra PodSpec in your app repo? Is your repo supposed to be a library or app?

I'm not sure if use_frameworks! is the cause here, here's a reproduction on a clean react-native project. uses nothing but nitro modules with the fix above commented out.

Ahd-3hd/testingnitro#1

as for the extra PodSpec, not sure what you mean; I only have one PodSpec file as far as i can tell.
I'm new to iOS development so I might be missing something.

[chrispader]

I'm not sure if use_frameworks! is the cause here, here's a reproduction on a clean react-native project. uses nothing but nitro modules with the fix above commented out.

@Ahd-3hd okay thanks, yea i think your solutions solves the 'folly/folly-config.h' file not found part of the issue. There are still some other headers that cannot be found when use_frameworks! is set. Still looking into how to fix this...

as for the extra PodSpec, not sure what you mean; I only have one PodSpec file as far as i can tell. I'm new to iOS development so I might be missing something.

I see, you have a Nitro module in the same repo and folder as your app. It's probably a best practice to seperate the "library part" from the "app part", but if it works for you that's fine :)

[mrousavy]

I see, you have a Nitro module in the same repo and folder as your app. It's probably a best practice to seperate the "library part" from the "app part", but if it works for you that's fine :)

No - a podspec is a specification for a pod, aka a library. A Podfile is an app that consumes pods (libraries).

So if you have an app you have 1 Podfile, and if you have 1 podspec in it you have one additional local library. That's the perfectly normal workflow.